Margaret Glaspy loves a great tune. She gets equal pleasure from building one from scratch or putting her own spin on someone else’s creation, as she does on “The Golden Heart Protector.” On the new 7-song release, she interprets seven of her favorite tracks from writers such as Jeff Tweedy, John Fogerty and Jackson Browne.
“Being a songwriter I have such an appreciation for good songs,” says Glaspy, whose 2023 album of her own material, “Echo the Diamond,” was acclaimed by The New York Times, NPR and Rolling Stone. “It was fun to be an interpreter and recognize the songs that I love and as a singer be able to perform them.”
“The Golden Heart Protector” includes collaborations with Norah Jones, Madison Cunningham, Glaspy’s husband, Julian Lage, Andrew Bird, James Bay and Alam Khan. The first single, Wilco’s “Jesus, Etc.,” features Jones.
“I love that song, and as a total Jeff Tweedy fan and Wilco fan it felt like that song was exciting,” says Glaspy, who had worked at Wilco’s studio in Chicago and has opened for and sit in with the band. “Jeff has such a fun way of phrasing and telling a story, and I was excited to tell the story in my way, and singing it in a way that felt genuine to me kind of revealed the song in a whole new meaning to me. That made me want to do it more.”
Tweedy was impressed, saying: “Holy shit! That’s all I’ve ever wanted my whole life — somebody else to sing my songs in a way that allows me to hear them as something new. So beautiful. Made me cry quite a bit.”
Glaspy said, “It felt wonderful that he got it. You never want to do your heroes wrong.”
Benny Bock’s stride piano on the track made Glaspy feel the interperation would fit Jones, and she recruited the star to duet with her. The two are in each other’s New York musicans’ orbit; Glaspy met Jones when Jones had her on her podcast.
Glaspy and Bay, the British singer-songwriter, had sung Browne’s “These Days” ton stage when he was opening for her in the UK, so it made sense to make a studio version for “The Golden Heart Protector.”
In the spring, she’ll release an album of new songs that she made with Joe Henry, the singer-songwriter who has produced records for Bonnie Raitt, Billy Bragg, Allen Toussaint and Rhiannon Giddens. “It has a really different style to it,” she says. “It’s a whole new world of music and kind of a departure from my rock and roll-type setup.”
For Glaspy, songwriting “is a daily practice.” Its a craft she shares in workshops hosted by the School of Song.
Moving from her native northern California to New York in 2010 helped hone her approach.
“I feel like New York changed by life in so many ways that I don’t even understand,” says Glaspy. “The New York mindset and mentality and what it means to me was heavy in all ot of ways and was very influential on my life. You kind of wake up knowing that things are being done before you even woke up. There’s something in the air. There’s just someting about New York that asks you, what is the purpose of what you’re doing? That’s revealed. If you don’t know the plot, you can get pushed around. You need to find the plot. I feel like that has been instilled in me, like get to the point. It’s at the core of my own music-making.”
Margaret Glaspy will peform at (Le) Poisson Rouge on Thursday, Oct. 16. Details here.
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